Keyword Research That Doesn't Suck

Here's how most keyword research goes: open Ahrefs, type in a competitor, export 10,000 keywords, feel productive, never look at the spreadsheet again. (Sound familiar? It's procrastination disguised as work.).

The problem isn't the tools. The problem is the process. You're starting with noise and hoping to find signal. That's backwards.

Good keyword research is a funnel. You start narrow, expand deliberately, then filter back down. You end with a list you can actually execute on.

Step 1: Seed Keywords From Your Brain

Close the tools. Open a blank document.

Write down 5-10 terms that describe what you do. Not what you think people search. What you actually do. The words you'd use to explain your business to a stranger at a bar.

If you sell project management software: "project management," "task tracking," "team collaboration," "work management," "project planning."

If you're a personal injury lawyer: "car accident lawyer," "slip and fall attorney," "injury claim," "accident settlement."

These are your seeds. They come from domain knowledge, not data. Tacit knowledge matters here. You know your market better than any tool.

Step 2: Expand Deliberately

Now you use tools. But with purpose.

Google Autocomplete: Type each seed keyword. Write down the suggestions. These are real searches from real people. Google is literally telling you what people want to know.

People Also Ask: Search your seeds. Expand every PAA box. These questions are content gold. Each one is a subheading or an entire article.

Ahrefs/Semrush: Plug in your seeds. Look at "matching terms" and "related terms." Don't export everything. Skim for patterns. Add promising terms to your list manually.

Competitor analysis: What are your competitors ranking for that you aren't? Use the content gap tool. Again, don't export blindly. Look for themes.

By the end of this step, you should have 200-500 keywords. Still manageable. Still human-readable.

Step 3: Filter Ruthlessly

This is where most people fail. They can't bring themselves to delete keywords.

Delete if:

• Irrelevant to your business. If you can't sell something to the person searching this, delete it.
• Wrong intent. Informational when you need transactional, or vice versa. Check the SERP if you're unsure.
• Unwinnable. If you can't realistically rank, don't waste time tracking it.
• Duplicate intent. "Best project management software" and "top project management tools" are the same keyword. Pick one.
• Too broad. Single-word keywords are usually vanity metrics. "Software" tells you nothing about intent.

Be aggressive. The goal isn't a big list. The goal is a usable list. I'd rather have 50 keywords I can actually target than 5,000 that sit in a spreadsheet.

Step 4: Prioritize by Opportunity

Now rank what's left. Not by search volume. By opportunity.

Opportunity = (Volume × Realistic CTR) / Effort

High volume means nothing if you can't rank. A keyword with 10,000 monthly searches where you'd be on page 5 is worth less than a keyword with 500 searches where you'd be in the top 3.

Consider:

• Current position: Already ranking 11-20? That's striking distance. Prioritize.
• Topical authority: Do you have related content already? Easier to rank when you're building on strength.
• Content exists: Can you refresh existing content or need to create from scratch? Refreshes are faster wins.
• Business value: What's a conversion worth? High-intent commercial keywords might justify more effort.

Your top 20 keywords should be obvious after this exercise. Those are your priority. Everything else is backlog.

What You End Up With

A prioritized list of 15-25 keywords. Each one passes these tests:

• Relevant to your business
• Correct intent for your goals
• Realistically winnable
• Worth the effort to pursue

This is your content roadmap. Not a data dump. A plan.

The Ongoing Process

Keyword research isn't a one-time project. It's a recurring process.

Monthly: Check Search Console for new queries driving impressions. These are keywords Google already associates with you. Low-hanging fruit.

Quarterly: Re-run competitor gaps. Markets shift. New opportunities emerge.

After every piece of content: Note what worked. Some keyword patterns consistently perform better for your site. Feed that signal back into future research.